Nowadays, a process called "swage" is employed which consists of marking, through pressure, a flat material such as cardboard or paper to produce a series of swage ridges or raised irregularities which is useful in limited industrial and commercial fields such as the wrapping or packing of different products. These swages have been used for several years in packing medical ampoules, soaps and other kinds of goods and in the paper industry in several common uses in stationery. These swaging processes are very simple because they consist in making the materials without submission to elaborate additional operations and without application of such processes to materials different from cardboard and paper.
These observations serve to differentiate perfectly the equipment and process of the invention from the conventional swaging operations because, according to the invention, the first step of performing cuts or incisions in the starting materials is followed by other steps and and treatments whose main purpose is to produce a stable and non-deforming mesh in the finished material in a flat condition. It is obvious that a mesh under a deforming stress becomes tense and modifies the size of the openings of the intercrossed material which forms it; however in the case of a conventional mesh, the material does not usually acquire its original shape which is a disadvantage not present in the material resulting from the invention. As it will be seen later on, the further treatment applied to the material which was previously cut or grooved has the purpose of keeping the "memory" of the shape in the mesh obtained through such material so that, once subjected to stress and usage, the mesh preserves the formed structure or irregularities or ridges obtained at the end of the process.
On the other hand, the production of mesh for industrial and ornamental purposes from materials such as leather and plastic is conventionally performed through knitting which is a completely different technique from the one of the present invention, or through cuts or dies applied to the material which waste those particles of material whose separation forms the openings of the mesh. These conventional systems do not involve additional treatments and besides, they are performed with a great loss of the cut particles of material, contrary to the present invention which involves several additional stages for the treatment of the cut material using the same completely, resulting in a considerable savings.